Nut cracking machine



April l2, 1938. F. E. wl-u'rEHEAD AL NUT CRACKING MACHINE Filed June 25, 1936L 2 Sheets-Sheet j www 9% Pw @uw Tw om ,n uw mm m. RQ h F. E. WHITEHEAD El AL NUT CRACKING MACHINE April 12, 1938.

Filed June 25, 1936 2 Sheets-Shea? 2 Patented Apr. l2, 1938 lltle eATENT orties 2,114,243 NUT CRACKING MACHINE Fred 'E. Whitehead and Howard T. Bonar, Stillwater, Okla.

4Application June 25, 1936, Serial No. 87,272

2 Claims.

This invention relates Ito a nut cracking machine.

It is aimed to `provide a novel 'construction par ticularly adapted for'cracking'pecans, 'although it may obviouslyrbe' used for the cracking of other nuts.

. An 'important object is'to provide a novelmeans whereby the nuts will be fed at the proper sequence and one Yat atime to the cracking mechavnism; to yprovide means inv the form of relatively i movable 'elements adapted'to crack the nuts and -to nieve. out of interfering relation with the nut holder or receptacle, so that the latter may be -operated to-eject-the nut; and to provide a novel rmeans whereby the cracking element adapted to remain fixed during the cracking operation, may

be more "effectively locked than heretofore.

lThe more y'specific objects and advantages will lbecome apparent'from a consideration of the description following taken in connection with accompanying Adrawings illustrating an operative f'embodiment.

In said drawings:

"Figure l is'a'vi'ew of the 'machine in. endeleva tion;

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse sectional View through the machine;

vFigure I3 is a view 'of the "machine'primarily in plane;

AFigure 4 isaview ofthe 'machine' inside elevation;

Fig-ure 5 isaldetail sectiontaken on line 5--5 lof Figure 2;

Figure' is' aldetaili-'side elevation, fragmentarlily/,of the l'supply wheel;

Figure V'7 is an upper edge 'view of the part of VvFigure 6; and

-Figure 8 is-an enlarged detail side elevation of the locking-"mechanism employed with the cracking means.

Referring specifically-to the drawings, Il! designatesla hopper adapted to contain'the pecans or other nuts to Ibe-cracked and at the lower end 'thereof 'a discharge boot vII is provided. 'Coacting with the boot is a hand advancing wheel I2 vfor the pecans which has any desired number of spaced pairs'- of nut en'gaging prongsl3, the boot having an opening I4 whereby the nuts may roll onto the prongs and the boot also having a projection I5 extending between the prongs to bet- 'terfsupport the nut as it is engaged by the prongs. It will be noted that in advance of each 'pair of prongs I3, `a slightdistance from the prongs, the wheel is cut away as at I6, preferably being laevelled downwardly and outwardly from opposite sides so that more than-a `single nut will not remain in place on each pair of prongs I3 during each rotation of the wheel I2. The prongs deliver and discharge the nuts into a chute I8 cornmunicating with an upstanding feeder I9 having spring as at 35.

(Cl. y"14S- 12) its lower Yend constricted as best shown in Figure 2, so that the nut willv not fall therethrough but will be arrested vat such lower end. The nut is adapted to be positiv-ely discharged from said end into a holder or receptacle preferably of shape as hestshown in Figure 2 and pivoted or `automatically to accommodate the escape of the'.A

nut.

A power shaft is provided as at mounted in any suitable manner in bearings 26 and it is equipped with a pulley 21 thereon adapted to be driven from any suitable source of power prefer- .o

ably through vthe medium of a VV-belt. On this shaft 25, a sprocket wheel 28 is keyed having a sprocket chain-29 trained thereover which isalso trained over a sprocket wheel keyed to a shaft V3 I suitably mountedin any desired way, and with which shaft the advancing wheel I2 'is rigid.

The plunger 22 is also operable from theshaft 25 a's through the medium of a cam 32 whose periphery is followedby a bent end of a lever 33, pvoted at 33 to a suitable support and urged into engagement with the cam by a contractile Lever 33 passes through a vertically Velongatedslot`3l in the wall of the feeder I9 and engages by means of va pivot `3l a rod 38 within the plunger.

a cracked nut, a contractile coil spring 45 being fastened to the arm 44 and to a supporting base 46. v

The spring @.5 normally holds the receptacle 20 in engagement with a stop 41.

The cracking mechanism comprises rod-like members it and 49, slidably mounted in suitable `bearings or brackets '50 and 5I, respectively,

mounted on the aforesaid base plate 45.

It will be noted from Figure 3 that the crackmember 49 is normally out of the path of movement of the holder or receptacle 20, being urged to that position by an expansive coil spring 52 surrounding the member and abutting one of the bearings 5I and an adjustable collar 53 Said vrod passes slidably through a spider 39 within the plunger and has on the member. The collar 53 is adjustable to vary the stroke of the cracking member 49. The spring 52 maintains a roller 54, journaled on the outer end of the cracking member 49, in position for engagement by a cam 55 provided on one side of the pulley 2.

The cracking member i8 has a collar or bracket 55 thereon, preferably adjustable, and it is engaged by an expansive coil spring 51 surrounding the cracking member 48 and one of the bearings 55.

The bracket 55 has an arm 58 slidable on a rod 55 fastened to an upright 50 on the base plate 56, and which upright also constitutes a bearing for the shaft 25. Said bracket 56 carries a roller 5l which is engaged with the operating face 52 of a cam 63 keyed to the shaft 25. The cam 53 longitudinally slides or displaces the cracking member 48, from the path of movement of the holder 2t, at the time of discharge or ejection of a cracked nut. It must be realized of course that this extracting element fi must be rigidly held in the position shown in Figure 3 when a nut is being cracked and to this end, a suitable locking means for the rod or cracking member el?, to hold it against longitudinal movement is provided.

This locking member is disclosed in the form of lever Sil pivoted at 55 to the adjacent bearing At one end of the lever 54 it is provided with an opening 5G through which the extracting member Il@ passes and which opening is enlarged slightly relatively to the cracking member. vNormally the locking member S!! is parallel to the adjacent bearing 56 and hence the cracking member 58 is free to slide. The locking member 54 is held in such position parallel to bearing 55 by means of a cam 61 rigid on the shaft 25. The cani 61 is so shaped however that slightly before the cracking operation, the cam permits swinging of the locking member 64, outwardly through the urgency of an expansive spring iil, causing the edges of the locking member as at 59, in the opening S6, to bite into the extracting member 48 and hold it against rectilinear movement.

As a result of the construction described, it will be realized that the nuts are fed or supplied from the hopper lil by the prongs I3, one nut at a time, into the chute I8 from which they fall into the feeder le and from the latter they are ejected by the downward movement of the plunger 22, the latter forcing the nut through the lower of the feeder, moving the wall or closure 23 outwardly and which nut falls into the holder or receptacle 2l). The operation of the plunger 22 is controlled by the action of the cam 373 and spring in combination with the lever 33. When a nut is` received in the holder or receptacle it must assume a longitudinal position due to the V-shape of the holder or receptacle. At this time, the extracting member #i3 moves slightly to the right to engage the nut, following which the cam t? permits the locking member @d to move from. the vertical position of Figure fl to the locking position of Figure 8, biting the extracting member ld and holding it rigid, .after which, the cam engages the roller and moves the extracting member 49 to the left, thereby cracking the nut.

Thereupon, the spring 52 retracts the extracting member 49 and the cam 63 displaces the cracking member 4! to the left from across the path of movement of the receptacle 20. Thereupon, through the rotation of shaft 25, the arm i3 engages projection 44 and tilts the holder 20 so that it will discharge the cracked nut into a receptacle or otherwise.

It will be realized that the cracking members i3 and 49 are so timed as to be operated three times for each revolution of the wheel I2, so to accommodate and crack all of the nuts supplied by wheel l2.

Furthermore, it will be understood that the capacity of the machine in` relation to cam shaft 25 may be increased by placing another nut cracking unit on the opposite side of shaft 25 from that shown in Figure 3, and the extension of said shaft 25 other units placed on opposite sides of the shaft indefinitely, the units on opposite sides of the shaft being made right and left as will be clearly understood.

Various changes may be resorted to provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim as our invention:-

l. A device of the class described having a rotatable shaft provided with a driving wheel thereon, a holder for a nut to be cracked, bearing means, aligned relatively slidable nut cracking rods mounted by said bearing means in parallelism to said shaft and co-acting with the holder, spring means urging one of the rods into cracking position disposed across the holder, a locking lever having an opening through which the last mentioned rod passes, a cam on said shaft operable to release the locking member, a

cam on one side of said wheel operable to slide the other rod relatively to the companion rod to crack the nut, cam means on the shaft operable thereafter to retract the rst mentioned rod from. the path of the holder, means operable thereafter from the said shaft to move the holder to discharge the cracked nut.

2. A device of the class described having a support, a rotatable shaft journaled on the support having a driving wheel, bearing members on said support, a holder for a nut to be cracked located between two adjacent bearing members, aligned relatively slidable first and second nut cracking rods mounted by said bearings in parallelism to said shaft and co-acting with the holder, spring means urging the first mentioned rod into cracki path ofthe holder, means operable thereafter from the said shaft to move the holder to discharge the cracked nut, a bracket on the rst mentioned rod, the said spring means engaging the bracket and one of the bearings, a bearing for the shaft having a guide rod rigid thereon in parallelism to the shaft, said bracket slidably engaging said guide rod, and said bracket having a part engageable by the adjacent cam.

FRED E. VVHITEHEAD. HOWARD T. BONAR. 

